Thirty-four Germantown Academy Upper School Science Research students competed at the Montgomery County Science Research Competition (MCSRC) on March 22, directed by Phil Rittenhouse 1760. In total, 32 students earned first, second, or thirds place awards, and qualified for the Delaware Valley Science Fair (DVSF) in the process. 

On April 5, 26 Upper School Science Research students competed at the Delaware Valley Science Fair (DVSF), which includes schools from the Lehigh Valley to southern Delaware, and from Chester County to the New Jersey shore. In total, 19 students earned first, second, third or Honorable Mention awards or special awards. Students won over $12,000 worth of prize money and additional gifts of swag, memberships, and trips from professional organizations and private companies, in addition to university scholarships.

In addition, Sam Wang '23 received the 12th Grade Silver Medal Award for his project "Rapid Cardiac Screening using Deep Learning," which qualified him for the international Science & Engineering Fair, which will be held in Dallas from May 13-19. 

"I created a deep learning workflow to analyze an echocardiogram video and assess heart function in five seconds with significantly improved accuracy than that of manual analysis," Wang said. "I deployed my algorithm to a Raspberry Pi ($70 microcomputer), Amazon Web Services, and laptops, and also created an iOS app. These allow doctors to upload videos and get analysis results. This technology has the potential to democratize cardiac care by enabling non-experts to perform cardiac screening at points of care, emergency rooms, rural areas, or developing countries, where cardiology expertise is limited."

Wang said that he found inspiration for the project a few years ago when his grandmother passed away from heart failure. Through online research, he learned that heart disease is prevalent, and that early diagnosis can save lives. Wang said he found that echocardiography, a commonly used diagnostic tool for heart disease, is time-consuming and has an error rate of up to 30 percent.

Wang added that he received guidance from biology teacher and Director of Independent Science Research Sarah Kesten, biology teacher Cecilia Kim, Computer Science Department Chair Jason Oswald, and science teacher and Upper School Science Department Chair Jamie Anderson, all of whom helped him develop his skills through the engineering process.  

"I have always been passionate about computer science and wanted to apply my knowledge in deep learning to create real-world solutions," Wang said. "It was an honor to receive a 12th grade Silver Medal at DVSF and participate in ISEF. I look forward to meeting and learning from fellow student researchers in Dallas."

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